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Category: evolution – Page 3

Leaf arrangement steers vascular pattern evolution in ferns, research finds

Research by Assistant Professor Jacob S. Suissa at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is revealing complexity in how ferns have evolved. Instead of the vascular structure inside fern stems changing as a direct adaptation to the environment, he discovered that shifts in vascular bundle arrangement in the stem are developmentally covaried with leaf placement on the stem.

“As leaf number increases, we see a direct 1:1 increase in vascular bundle number, and as the placement of leaves along the stem changes, we also see a shift in the of vascular bundles in the stem,” said Suissa, a member of UT’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

For 150 years, researchers have focused on how vascular bundles adapt to the environment. Suissa’s new research, published in Current Biology, suggests leaves are steering the evolution of vascular patterns inside the stem.

An old fish fossil tells a new story about lamniform shark evolution

An international, multi-university research team, including scientists from Columbus State University, has unearthed a crucial new piece of the puzzle in the evolution of sharks.

A recent study published in Communications Biology, “Early gigantic lamniform marks the onset of mega-body size in modern shark evolution,” has identified a new, extinct lamniform shark—a group that includes modern-day great white and mako sharks. It marks the earliest known example of a gigantic shark, suggesting that the trend of mega-body size in modern shark evolution began much earlier than previously thought.

The team, led by Dr. Mohamad Bazzi of Stanford University, included Dr. Mike Newbrey of Columbus State’s Department of Biology and 2020 alumna Tatianna Blake. They derived their conclusions after studying specimens from the Darwin Formation that outcrops at Darwin, Australia. These specimens, collected by other researchers in the 1980s, had been stored in a museum collection and remained unstudied until recently, when the team examined them in detail.

How social norms evolved over time and differ across countries

When humans interact with each other and engage in everyday activities, they typically follow various undefined rules, also known as social norms. These rules include things like greeting acquaintances in specific ways upon meeting them, not interrupting others when they speak, waiting in line for one’s turn at the post office, and countless other behaviors.

Social norms can differ significantly across and geographical regions. In addition, these unspoken rules are known to have changed considerably across history, as societies evolved and the values guiding people’s behavior changed.

Researchers at the Institute for Future Studies in Stockholm and other institutes in Sweden recently carried out a large-scale study investigating the evolution of social norms across time, while also exploring the similarities and differences between the norms in 90 societies worldwide. Their paper, published in Communications Psychology, identifies a common trend in the recent evolution of norms in most societies, while also uncovering characteristic patterns in different types of societies.

Simple DNA switch helps tropical butterflies change wing patterns with the seasons

Scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have discovered a simple DNA “switch” that helps tropical butterflies adjust the size of their wing eyespots in response to seasonal temperatures, shedding light on the evolution of environmental sensitivity. The findings could inform future efforts to understand and potentially bolster adaptation in a changing climate.

Insects often adapt in surprising ways to their surroundings. Some even change their colors with the seasons. This seasonal flexibility, called plasticity, helps them survive but its evolutionary origins have remained a mystery.

A team led by Professor Antónia Monteiro from the NUS Department of Biological Sciences, identified a stretch of DNA that helps certain butterflies switch their wing patterns between wet and dry seasons.

Early experiment at the dawn of dinosaur evolution discovered

Argentinian researchers have described a Carnian theropod with features previously thought to belong only to much later neotheropods, indicating greater early dinosaur diversity than expected as well as a possible climate-related ebb and return of dinosaur abundance in northwestern Argentina.

Deciphering Breast Cancer: Spatial and Molecular Insights into Tumor Evolution

In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, join us for a live webinar to uncover the complexity of tumor biology and the surprising resilience of normal tissue. This event will feature two expert-led presentations: one demonstrating how protein multiplexing and quantitative imaging uncover the hidden heterogeneity of breast tumors, and another examining how natural tissue remodeling can both suppress and influence oncogenic transformation. A live discussion and Q&A session will follow, giving you the opportunity to engage directly with leading researchers and gain valuable insights to improve cancer diagnosis, guide therapy decisions, and inform prevention strategies. All sessions will be available on demand, allowing flexible access for continued learning and engagement.

Featured Talks:

What goes up must come down: The ‘universal thermal performance curve’ that shackles evolution

Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have unearthed a universal thermal performance curve (UTPC) that seemingly applies to all species and dictates their responses to temperature change. This UTPC essentially shackles evolution as no species seem to have broken free from the constraints it imposes on how temperature affects performance.

All living things are affected by temperature, but the newly discovered UTPC unifies tens of thousands of seemingly different curves that explain how well species work at different temperatures. And not only does the UTPC seem to apply to all species, but also to all measures of their performance with regard to temperature variation—whether measuring lizards running on a treadmill, sharks swimming in the ocean, or recording cell division rates in bacteria.

Crucially, the new UTPC shows that as all organisms warm, performance slowly increases until they reach an optimum (where performance is greatest), but then, with further warming, performance quickly declines.

Planet formation depends on when it happens: New model shows why

A new study led by UNLV scientists sheds light on how planets, including Earth, formed in our galaxy—and why the life and death of nearby stars are an important piece of the puzzle.

In a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers at UNLV, in collaboration with scientists from the Open University of Israel, for the first time, modeled details about how the timing of planet formation in the history of the galaxy affects planetary composition and density. The paper is titled “Effect of Galactic Chemical Evolution on Exoplanet Properties.”

“Materials that go into making planets are formed inside of stars that have different lifetimes,” says Jason Steffen, associate professor with the UNLV Department of Physics and Astronomy and the paper’s lead author.

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